Single storey, kitchen extension and garden landscaping in St Albans

Culver Road, St. Albans, Herts. AL1 4EB

A love of good design and beautiful interiors was the driving force behind the partnership between Beswick Building and Renovations, P + R Associates (Chartered Architects) and the home owners, Vicky and Rich. The kitchen area of this typically Victorian, end of terrace family home was transformed into a modern light filled space for all occasions.

Replacing an old unsightly conservatory with a single storey home extension

Vicky and Rich had originally purchased the property knowing that, when the time was right, they would love to remove the unsightly and unusable glass conservatory at the rear of the property and extend out in order to knock through and make a larger, more sociable kitchen area, with a downstairs toilet and utility cupboard. The project ultimately grew to include re-designing and changing the appearance of the entire back garden.

Building an home extension in an awkward street

This particular street in St. Albans is logistically very awkward to work on, due to the one-way system and none of the properties having more than 4m2 of front garden, so careful planning and project management was required in order to keep to a strict programme deadline and cause minimal fuss to the surrounding neighbours.

Brick extension with Velux roof lights

Our primary job was to clear the old conservatory, dig out the garden to achieve the desired levels and then prepare the foundations ready for concreting.  We then had to construct the brickwork walls and insert the timber vaulted roof structure that contained 2no Velux roof lights.

Roofing and bi-fold doors

The roof covering was then installed and the adjoining walls rendered and painted. Internally, now was the correct time to ‘knock through' into the original kitchen, fitting new aluminium windows and Aluminium bifold doors to ensure this north facing area was flooded with as much light as possible.  The bifold doors open completely allowing the family to make the most of their garden and enjoy 'inside-outside' living.

Modern kitchen extension

Vicky and Rich wanted a modern kitchen perfect for cooking, dining and relaxing and allowing the family to spend time together in comfort but also sympathetic with the ‘original’ feel of its Victorian heritage. Beswick Building and Renovations LTD installed a new matt white kitchen, along with a more traditional stained oak work surface and ceramic under-mount sink, to ensure that the old and new married perfectly.  Matching floor tiles were sourced to ensure continuity of the ‘older’ style flooring running through into the new kitchen area.

Landscaping the back garden

Externally, the original lawn had struggled to thrive with limited sunlight and the garden became somewhat unusable during the wetter months.  With an enthusiastic sports mad family, ensuring that the family could enjoy the benefits of the limited outside space all year round became really important. Thus, we decided that the garden levels were best split, with stone paving slabs laid across and to the side of the house and extension on the lower level and the upper level, created from ‘sleeper walls’, was constructed to accept an artificial grass covering. A paved dining area was created at the far corner of the garden, the only area to receive a bit more sunlight during the summer months.

Finally, finishing touches were completed by Beswick Building and Renovations Ltd who installed some fantastic yellow stock styled brick slips to the window wall and also painted the entire space in a range of Dulux Trade paints carefully chosen by Vicky.